Video: Importing swatches

Up until now, we've been exploring different ways of creating your own swatches here inside of Illustrator. In this movie, I will be focusing on how to import swatches that someone else has created into your Illustrator document. That way it makes it easier for you to take artwork from another person, or even your client, and import it directly into Illustrator and start applying those colors to your artwork. Let's first start off by bringing the Swatches panel out in the open so you can see it. There are many ways to get swatches into Illustrator, the first of which is to open up an Adobe Swatch Exchange file or a .ase file.

Adobe Illustrator can be used to accomplish many different design tasks, from illustration to app development. This course demonstrates core concepts and techniques that can be applied to any workflow—for print, the web, or building assets that will find their way into other applications. Author Justin Seeley explains the elements that make up vector graphics (paths, strokes, and fills) while showing how to use each of the drawing tools, and demonstrates how to combine and clean up paths and organize them into groups and layers. The course also covers text editing, working with color, effects, and much more.

Importing swatches

Up until now, we've been exploring different ways of creating your own swatcheshere inside of Illustrator.In this movie, I will be focusing on how to import swatches that someone elsehas created into your Illustrator document.That way it makes it easier for you to take artwork from another person, or evenyour client, and import it directly into Illustrator and start applying thosecolors to your artwork.Let's first start off by bringing the Swatches panel out in the open so you can see it.There are many ways to get swatches into Illustrator, the first of which is toopen up an Adobe Swatch Exchange file or a .ase file.

I am going to show you how to create one of these momentarily, but first I wantto show you how to open one up in case you ever get one sent to you.The first thing you will need to do is go to this little Library icon right hereand I'll go down and choose Other Library.Once I choose Other Library, it automatically takes me to the Presets area of myIllustrator files on my computer.I am going to go my Desktop though, navigate to my Exercise Files, go to Chapter04, and open up brand_colors.ase.Once I do that, it automatically opens up the Adobe Swatch Exchange file, andhere at the bottom, you'll see the different swatches that I want.

If I hover over this, you will see it's the roux color palette for the Roux Academy.If I want to add these to my Swatches panel, I can click them one at a time andit will add it over here, or I can simply click the folder and it adds thoseautomatically to my Swatches panel.Now I can close the file and I actually have all of these available to me right here.Now let's say that I was working on something and I needed to send thesecolors to someone else.I could actually select them by clicking right there on the folder and then Ican go up to the panel menu, and I can choose Save Swatch Library as ASE or SaveSwatch Library as AI.

By saving it as an ASE file, you're able to share this file throughout otherapplications like Adobe InDesign.You could also save it out as an AI file and simply share it between Illustrator files;either way is totally fine.Since I've got these swatches inside of this document, let's go ahead and usethem on this artwork.I will go ahead and double-click to get into the group and I'll startapplying these swatches;orange, yellow, blue, purple, the light gray, and finally the dark gray.

Once I have my colors applied, I can double-click to exit isolation mode,and now all of these are contained inside of this document and applied to the artwork.Now I will simply save this piece of artwork.If I close it and then go to create a new file, hit OK, you will notice thatthose swatches are no longer present.However, I need to be able to get a hold of those swatches so I can work with them again.And let's also say that I lost the ASE file. I can't find it.How do I then get those swatches in here?I can actually import them from that other document.

If I go to Window and then scroll all the way to the bottom and go down toSwatch Libraries, I can then choose Other Library, navigate to my Desktop, goto my Exercise Files > Chapter 04 and in this case, I will find color_librariesand open it up.When I do that, you'll notice that it actually didn't open the file, it simplyopened the color_libraries file Swatches panel, showing me all of the differentswatches that I have available to me, including the roux color palette.

If I click, it automatically adds those swatches to this panel.Now I can close this up and I can continue working.If I draw some shapes, I can easily apply those and go on my way.So anytime you need to work with swatches that are contained inside of aseparate document, or even stand-alone files, you now know how to import them intoIllustrator and use them in any document that you need to.This is going to be great for sharing colors across multiple projects andmultiple people as well, because once you create your swatches, you can sharethem with your coworkers, they can share theirs with yours, and everyone canbe on the same page.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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